History HonorBeforeReason / Theatre

* This is the entire point of the plot of ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''. In addition to the [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything do-nothing-ness]] and ethics of the pirates, Frederic swears himself to killing all of his friends once his indenture is over because piracy is wrong. He interrupts the Major General's daughters stripping on the beach due to uh, honor. And when the Pirate King and Ruth reveal that due to his birthday, he's going to be indentured until 1940, they don't even try to enforce it on him -- "we leave it to your honor."
** [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hell, it's right there the subtitle -- "The Slave of Duty"]]
** Stripping? They intend to paddle in the water. So -- take their shoes and socks off. Probably pull up their skirts a little, too. Then, he is a slave to duty.
*** But--''bare ankles!'' Scandalous!
** At the end the pirates themselves surrender when called upon to do so in Queen Victoria's name.
* Arguably, this is the tragic flaw of Brutus in ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' - he doesn't want to accept that the people around him are not as idealistic and honorable as he is. Doing the honorable thing gets him in trouble when he spares Mark Antony and allows him to speak at Caesar's funeral, allowing Antony the chance to turn the opinion of the Roman public against Brutus with the famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech.
* In ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'', this is the fork Arthur finds himself caught on when Guinevere is caught with Lancelot. As Mordred says: "Let her die, your life is over; let her live, your life's a fraud. Which will it be -- kill the queen or kill the law?"
* Features prominently in Victor Hugo's play ''Hernani'' and its opera adaptation, ''Ernani''--a rather extreme case of IGaveMyWord.
* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' : Duels in general, but especially the three that happen onstage during ''Hamilton'' are one hundred percent unreasonable. No one actually thinks they're a good idea, but everyone has to do them. TruthInTelevision, at least for that time.
* This is the central theme of ''Theatre/AManForAllSeasons'' - Thomas More could easily save himself, but that would come at the cost of his integrity, something he is not willing to give.
* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': In a DecadentCourt setting, Eddard Stark discovers his foster father was killed after discovering that none of King Robert's children are actually his, meaning that one of Robert's brothers is his actual heir. Eddard's reaction to the information is to arrange for Robert's brother to take the throne upon Robert's death, and he gets beheaded for betrayal. If Eddard had taken a IllPretendIDidntHearThat approach to the information, he'd be still alive and there wouldn't have been a SuccessionCrisis (or at least much less of one).
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* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': In a DecadentCourt setting, Eddard Stark discovers his foster father was killed after discovering that none of King Robert's children are actually his, meaning that one of Robert's brothers is his actual heir. Eddard's reaction to the information is to arrange for Robert's brother to take the throne upon Robert's death, and he gets beheaded for betrayal. If Eddard had taken a IllPretendIDidntHearThat approach to the information, he'd be still alive and there wouldn't have been a SucessionCrisis (or at least much less of one).

* Arguably, this is the tragic flaw of Brutus in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'' - he doesn't want to accept that the people around him are not as idealistic and honorable as he is. Doing the honorable thing gets him in trouble when he spares Mark Antony and allows him to speak at Caesar's funeral, allowing Antony the chance to turn the opinion of the Roman public against Brutus with the famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech.

* This is the central theme of ''Theatre/AManForAllSeasons'' - Thomas More could easily save himself, but that would come at the cost of his integrity, something he is not willing to give.

* Arguably, this is the tragic flaw of Brutus in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'' - he doesn't want to accept that the people around him are not as idealistic and honorable as he is.

* This is the entire point of the plot of ''ThePiratesOfPenzance''. In addition to the [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything do-nothing-ness]] and ethics of the pirates, Frederic swears himself to killing all of his friends once his indenture is over because piracy is wrong. He interrupts the Major General's daughters stripping on the beach due to uh, honor. And when the Pirate King and Ruth reveal that due to his birthday, he's going to be indentured until 1940, they don't even try to enforce it on him -- "we leave it to your honor."

* This is the central theme of ''AManForAllSeasons'' - Thomas More could easily save himself, but that would come at the cost of his integrity, something he is not willing to give.

* This is the entire point of the plot of ''{{The Pirates of Penzance}}''. In addition to the [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything do-nothing-ness]] and ethics of the pirates, Frederic swears himself to killing all of his friends once his indenture is over because piracy is wrong. He interrupts the Major General's daughters stripping on the beach due to uh, honor. And when the Pirate King and Ruth reveal that due to his birthday, he's going to be indentured until 1940, they don't even try to enforce it on him -- "we leave it to your honor."

* Arguably, this is the tragic flaw of Brutus in {{Shakespeare}}'s ''Julius Caesar'' - he doesn't want to accept that the people around him are not as idealistic and honorable as he is.

* Features prominently in Victor Hugo's play ''Hernani'' and its opera adaptation, ''Ernani''--a rather extreme case of {{I Gave My Word}}.
* This is the central theme of ''AManForAllSeasons'' - Thomas More could easily save himself, but that would come at the cost of his integrity, something he is not willing to give.

* In ''Camelot'' this is the fork Arthur finds himself caught on when Guinevere is caught with Lancelot. As Mordred says (inexact quote), "Let her die and your life is over. Let her live and your life is meaningless."